Episode 66: Cultivating Happy Spaces & Places with Vicki and Brooke of Sister Golden

Why Listen? In my journal practice, I write down what I call “heart taps”, which are the things that speak directly to my heart. Here are a few of the heart tap moments that I wrote down from this interview with VICKI & BROOKE RAWLINS:

****HEART TAPS FROM THIS EPISODE****
• It's important to create spaces that bring you joy and reflect your personal style. Take the time to find unique pieces that resonate with you rather than rushing to fill the space. The process is as rewarding as the final result!
• Exploring different creative outlets, even unconventional ones, can be incredibly fulfilling and may lead you to unexpected paths of personal growth and innovation. Take the time to tap into your unique creative outlet.
• Balancing work and personal life is essential for mental and physical well-being. Recognize when you need to take a step back, reassess, and make adjustments to ensure a healthy alignment. Be kind to yourself and know there is no such thing as a perfect balance.

• Who you surround yourself with in business, love and community matters deeply! Build a community of mutual love, respect and support and the quality of your living will increase exponentially.

THE GUEST:
Vickie and Brooke Rawlins began in 2014 as an online-based shop headquartered in sunny San Diego, CA. Two short years later we planted roots as a brick and mortar store in beautiful Door County, WI. Vicki (or ‘V’ as everyone calls her) is the artist behind our unique flower art made completely from Mother Nature. While V creates her art, Brooke manages most other aspects of the business, and we have a lot of help from talented people in between! Fun fact: the name Sister Golden comes from the America song Sister Golden Hair. The title of that song was the inspiration behind a nickname Brooke’s dad gave her when she was little, and the name just stuck.

Website: www.SisterGolden.com

Instagram: @SisterGoldenShop

Book:  The Power of Flowers Book – Sister Golden

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Transcript

Episode 66 of The Well-Tended Life Podcast

(Intro - Keri Wilt, Host)

Hey friends, welcome to the well-tended life podcast. What is a well-tended life? Well, let me start by telling you what it is not.  A well-tended life is not a set it and forget it life, nor is it a perfect life. It is though, a life that is worked on every day in the sunshine and through the storms.

And the truth is what worked in our life gardens last year may not work in the next. Yeah. That's why here at the Well-Tended Life podcast, we're interviewing people who have grown and bloomed true in a variety of seasons, and who are willing to share their well tinted wisdom and bead whacking advice with us.

Listen in.
(Intro ends, episode begins)

Keri: Hello everyone. And welcome to the well-intended live podcast. I'm your host, Keri Wilt, a speaker, writer, and heart cultivator who is on a mission to help you and me grow through any season. As with all of our podcasts Today's podcast is inspired by a quote from my great grandmother's secret garden.

And this quote says, "I'm so happy. I can  breathe". And I'm wondering today, where do you find this kind of happiness? Do you find it at work, maybe out in nature with your friends and family? Today's special guests, Vicki and Brooke Rawlins are a dynamic mother and daughter duo who have made it their mission to spread good vibes.

At Sister Golden, they have curated a collection of handmade, one of a kind vintage pieces from artisans and artists around the world. And they all have one thing in common. They make you feel good and they make your homes happy.  I'm so happy that they are here with us today. And I just can't wait to see what well tended wisdom  they have to share with us today.

Welcome Brooke and Vicki. Thank you, guys so much for coming on.

Brooke: Thank you for having us. 

Keri: Yeah. Oh my gosh. Okay. So first, maybe why don't y'all introduce yourselves individually? Just give a little snippet of who you are and what you're about before we go into kind of more of the like journey of how you created Sister Golden and stuff. Who wants to go first? 

Vicki: I'll go first. Okay. You go. I'm older. Okay. You go.  I'm Vicki Rawlins and I'm Brooke's mom.  she's my boss, but I'm her mom. And yeah, I'm a 64 year old woman who, has two kids and is married and    just had a great life and it continues to be awesome and wonderful because I get to work with Brooke on a daily basis and, also, we I feel like the whole family's involved, even though it's just us supposedly.  I thought I was going to be like, retired and just painting as an artist and all this kind of stuff all the time.

And then I don't know what happened, but a whirlwind happened. And  We're just having a great time having a business together.

Keri: I love it. All right. You're next. 

Brooke: I'm Brooke Rawlins. Vicki's daughter, obviously.  I just turned 35. I'm married. I have a dog, I live in a place called Door County, Wisconsin, which is where Vicky lives also.

It's this little peninsula, that sort of. Juts out in between Green Bay and Lake Michigan. So it's like Northeast Wisconsin. And it's a beautiful  spot in the world. It's people call it like the Cape Cod of the Midwest sort of. So it's like very beachy very woodsy. It has, the best of all worlds going on.

So yeah, I'm just having a great time. Living here and running a business with my family, not just my mom, but my really my whole family. My husband's also a small business owner and just opened his own business two years ago. So, it's just like a wild ride, but it's been great.

Keri: Now are y'all from Wisconsin? Is that where you were born and raised?   

Brooke: We're from Chicagoland, so I was born in the Chicago suburbs.  My dad was born in Wisconsin, and he has been coming up to this place called Door County for almost his whole life. And then he brought my mom up. Eventually, once they had us, we were coming up as kids and camping and doing that whole thing.

Vicki: We moved up here. About eight years ago. From the Chicago suburbs.  I kept teasing Craig that he was trying to get me more north to the Wisconsin border because we were, when we were young and cool, we lived in Lincoln Park, Chicago and stuff. And then we kept going more north and more north.

And I'm like, you're just trying to get me to Wisconsin, aren't you?  And then we ended up building a home up here in Door County and we just loved it. But we thought it would be like retirement, and, and Brooke was out doing something completely different living in on the West Coast and stuff.

Door county was in her heart. Both kids had spent so many years here working. During the summers and stuff, and they just absolutely adored it. What was great was that Matt. Just coming to our family, Matt's my husband, right? Her husband, he ended up absolutely adoring it  and wanting to be here too.

So it, it just worked out so great that he was like, sure, let's just take this leap of faith and move to Door County. Which is like a little tiny area where there's not a ton of people in the winter and stuff. And a lot of people in their thirties would be like, hell no, I'm not going there.  But he was all into it.

And he, I think he loves it more than we do.

Brooke: He does love it.

Vicki: So anyway, it, we ended up here and it's been great.

Keri: So, Brooke, did you move there to start this business? Was that the impetus for the move? 

Brooke: Yeah. Matt and I were living in San Diego, so that's where Sister Golden was created.

I was in San Diego. My mom was back home in Evanston, which is a Chicago suburb. My husband, Matt was getting his PhD in chemistry at UCSD. So that's what brought us out to the west coast.  When he was finished, we were just missing the Midwest. We were like craving being by our families again, both were, so back in the Midwest and missing our friends and just like the seasons and that sort of.

Yeah. Midwest nice like lifestyle. He graduated and we moved back at the same time we had started sister golden online, but that was the time we were going to plan our routes into a physical store somewhere.  We had thrown around different places as ideas for where to open a physical store and landed on door County.

It just, cause. We had been coming up. We had loved it so much. We thought it would be sort of a perfect place to open what we wanted to open so and also It was like a time in my life where craig and I were really we love Door County, but we really wanted to be someplace different for the winter

Vicki: And so, this allowed that door county's the type of place, but we could do that.

So The store is open full time and it's open in the winter, but I was like, okay brook we can have the shop, but I still want to have the flexibility of me being able to go away for the winter. So it worked out perfectly. Because I'm able to be in California in the winter and here in the summer and it's just perfect.

Keri: Okay. So, I want you to hop back because most people are just like, okay, do you just like wake up one day and decide I'm going to start a business? Like, where did that come from? How did that kind of evolve for y'all? Yeah. And not only start a business with your family, which some people like totally crazy would never do.

I'm actually on the other side. I'm with y'all. I actually I own a business and several businesses with my husband, and I work alongside him. And most people were like, I could never work with my husband. But take me back to the seed of the idea and walk me through that just a little bit.

Brooke: Yeah. So throughout high school and college, I worked for small women owned boutiques.  Loved it. Like I loved working for a woman owned company. I loved learning about all aspects of running a small business. And actually, one of the, one of the places I worked in high school and college was front and company, which is a clothing store that's right next door to Sister Golden now.  I just fell in love with like boutique life, and small business and thought that it would be amazing to have a small boutique of some sort of my own one day. Ended up after college working for corporate retail and marketing.

 During those jobs really felt drawn back to the small business.  Feel like there was nothing like it. I wasn't getting that feeling in corporate retail. I loved marketing but, was still craving something more creative. And so, I decided to spend my weekends and my off time when I wasn't working my full-time job, like diving in and dabbling in idea.

 It obviously turned out to be Sister Golden. And I don't know if I knew it was going to be what it was at the time, but that started with a blog and then quickly transformed into the idea of an online shop that would sell my mom's artwork.

 That was like an easy idea to start, at the time she was doing. She had been an artist forever. But we thought she could paint, small watercolors and we could sell prints of her watercolor paintings. That was like the initial spark, the initial idea.

Vicki: Also, you kind of transitioned to like, she was working for boutiques that were selling women's clothing and she was loving that and feel like her blog and stuff was more about that in the beginning and then.

You had this shift where I feel like you just really got into home goods. She was discovering, all this cool stuff and just thinking that I'm not as, I mean, I love clothes. I mean, She still does, but I feel like I want to talk more about what's. In your home, you know, as a whole.

 Ceramics and artwork and then also stuff that you're wearing too but everything being, the one of a kind handmade and she grew up with that just because, I'm an artist and we always had artwork all around the house and different forms.  The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I mean, she really appreciated that.  I feel like she did this whole shift, and it started out with just then doing the paintings first. And then time to start to go out and find artists. It was cool.

Keri: What I love about your story is a, that Brooke, you're like, I didn't really know what it was going to be. But I knew I wanted to take the time to dabble and find out right and so many people are like, I have this thought that I'm supposed to do something, but they don't make the space to go dream about it and go just like brainstorm and to start somewhere, right? You just, I think that's such a great permission that you give people by telling that part of your story is because you just start somewhere, right? And it'll evolve from there. It always does. But if you don't take action, if you just keep thinking, Oh, I'm someday without taking the time.

So I'm so thankful that you did that. Also, I want to go back to the home shift like that shift from what you're wearing to where I guess maybe where you're being right? You're you're space. You're nesting. It's interesting, probably even just probably the age you were at the time.

I think that's a very natural shift right from outward to inward and kind of that nesting thing, but talk to me really about why it's important for us to curate like our lives in our homes that. And make it a space that feels good and does make us happy because I think there's so much out there that is everything's beige and everything's, like that people are afraid to find joy in their spaces, which anybody who follows me, you can tell that I'm all about joy in my spaces, but you're being very intentional about that piece.

So, talk to me a little bit about that. 

Vicki: When you wear clothes that make you feel comfortable, immediately, you know, if you wear something that you're uncomfortable and you're uncomfortable the whole day, even if your hair's bad, whatever it is, and for me, I used to, when I was in high school, I would wake up in the middle of the night and if my closet was crazy, I literally would of course, this is because of my mother, I would literally have to clean up the inside of my closet or something. Like I just didn't feel right. And I just, I don't know. So, from such an early age, it's, I don't remember it not being important. And again, I grew up with a mother and a father who that was like really important, how the inside of the home looked and felt and.

There was always a certain vibe about it that I absolutely adored.  I didn't even know where it came from, except for, I thought my mom was like some design genius. I know everybody comes from a different direction and a different home life and everything, but I feel like for me.

Now that I'm talking about it, the absolute core reason is because I tell these genes from my mom that were like, you got to live in a space that feels right and feels good.  I always felt right and good in my space when I was growing up. And so, I was all about making that space.

And when she was young, she knew I was all about making that space and I think she just naturally felt that way too. And then you get out of your nest living with your parents. And then I'm speaking for Brooke, but I feel like he just, I've watched her in the same way that she's really like.

It's important for her to have this creative, great looking feeling place. And what's fun too now is that we get to help each other with it. Now I make her come over and help me with stuff for my house.  I'm helping her with stuff for her house and stuff. It's just I don't know life without wanting to feel comfortable in my space at all.

Brooke: I think it's just a snowball effect. If your space is a place that's You know, reflective of how you feel on the inside and your personality, you get so much from it, it makes your day better.  It continues to sort of inspire you, and we both really, like the mix of sort of thrifting, unique things, and then, shopping for other things.

We might buy something from Target, but then we're thrifting, you know, something else that's vintage or whatever. Right. And that whole mix. And I think you can really be creative with that without breaking the bank, which is super important too.

And yeah, I don't know. I feel like I've just come into my own.  Style with my house and there's still so far to go, but yeah, it's just a fun sort of creative outlet. I think designing your right.

Vicki: And I feel like with sister golden, we've had so much fun helping people get to that point because people will come in and I'll think that whatever this piece that we're selling is so self-explanatory, like, how could you not know what to do with this piece or where to put it?

And then you're realizing as people are coming in, they don't know, or they don't know how to mix it up, or they're thinking they have to spend a whole lot of money. And, we're just teaching people that just, we've done the work for you. We've gotten, from Morocco or India or Turkey or wherever it is, these amazing pillows that can like really, that are vintage and cool and whatever.

And so you don't have to go out and buy a new sofa, you know, you can add these things and a new personality to your space with doing something simple that doesn't break the bank. So it's just so fun to help people down to a candle or whatever just reinvent their space with these hand picked pieces.

And the other thing, is teaching people about the mom who's working nine to five, teaching school or whatever she's doing in corporate life. And then all night she's like making coffee mugs, amazing, beautiful pottery.  You go to sister golden, your coffee mug might be 50 bucks.

And then people will look at it and be like fifty bucks? And I'm like well, yeah, but think about what's going on here. Teaching people why they should appreciate that and then who's doing it, you know, or making that jewelry or whatever it is and so I feel like then you're bringing home something special and you're like, oh this is cool and this is different, and it's something that I don't normally have. And. People like realize why something special too.

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(Episode Resumes)

Keri: Most people were not blessed with being brought up in a home where, you know where their house was a place of joy. And they don't recognize that their space affects them.

They don't recognize. The pile of clutter in the corner changes their mood,  they don't,  yeah, they don't realize that having no color also changes their mood and having pops of fun does change, like, all the things right.  And my gut says to tell somebody at home would be just like, does it bring you joy.

Then do it like, don't be afraid to take that risk of bringing things that bring you joy. But also, I think a lot of people decorate for the sake of filling a wall.

Vicki: Oh, totally. Yes.

Keri: So can you talk to that or talk somebody down from just buying something to fill a space versus holding that space empty for the thing that, that you're That you really want or that you will find.

Vicki: Boy, I feel like this is sort of a hard conversation sometimes with people because, like you don't want to, it's weird You go into somebody's home and then you're like, okay you can tell the wall that you're talking about has all been bought from, you know, I, I mean, can I say like, Hobby-Hobby Lobby, you know what I mean? Like Home Goods just threw up in their house or whatever it is. But they've had fun doing that. They're taking control and they're being creative with something they can afford and do that. So, I feel like us as shop owners and dealing with all of our, just absolutely incredible customers that we have. You go to somebody's house and you're like you could incorporate this, like you could do this, and this, and it would just create a different vibe or a different feel with it, whatever.

And, or those things have a place because we do that too. But you can have something feel completely different by just adding, just like you're saying, like the one thing in, or, make space for that one piece, right?

Brooke: So, I also think that's where your flower art comes into the conversation because in the store, the back gallery is all of her art and it's hanging in a gallery like way.

And then there's prints that you can flip through and people go back there and you can hear like the audible gasp when they see it and you can hear it like from the front counter and you're like, okay, they're back there. They saw it. And I think people feel.  So connected to the prince and the art and they don't care what else is going on in their house.

They're getting that piece and it's going to be like the focal point in their bedroom or like they're going to get poor and they're putting them in their living room. It doesn't matter if it matches anything else. That's going up and they're going to change their whole room around it, which is really cool.

And I think that's the feeling you want. It doesn't have to be that  crazy connection with every single piece you put into your house, I don't think, but if you do find, one thing that you are like, just feeling  that spark when you see, and you're like, okay, that's it  that.

I didn't know what I was looking for, but that's what I was looking for. I think that's a really great place to start, and that can inspire change in your house or be the focal point of something.

Keri: And I think my thought was almost like you were giving yourself the place in the space to dream about the business was like, I just want people at home to feel permission to leave your walls blank.

And until that inspiration comes like that, that you don't have to move into a place and everything has to be done, that it's okay to give your space and your place, like the space to the, and to take the time to, to find those things that do make your heart, drop a little bit and your face smile and gasp, right?

Imagine walking into a space where you have at least a couple things that make you gasp every day. Like, how awesome would that be?

Brooke: Totally. I've had my, I bought my first house I guess we've been here for five, five years, five and a half years. And I still have, walls and things that are blank because I could go out and, get that from a crate and barrel or a target or whatever, but I don't want that.

I want something that I thrift or that I find, or it's something that's vintage that I just stumble upon because I know it's going to be different and it's not going to be what everyone else has. So, I'm choosing to leave that corner open for something that I just happen upon because I know that I'm going to have that piece forever and it's going to be like so unique and just... So I totally get that and I totally agree with that and it's just so much more fun to do it that way and it doesn't matter if people are, I think a lot of people like rush to decorate their places because if they're having guests or whatever, like they want their house to look done or finished or And it's, I don't know, I just don't think-

Vicki: Oh my God, this is like exactly where I am right at this moment in my life, right this minute, because I just moved to, Craig and I just moved to a new space, a smaller space, we moved out of a home here and now we're into a smaller space.

And the people that bought our house bought everything with the house, except for, of course, my artwork and whatever they bought, like every piece of furniture and stuff. So we're starting completely new. This place has a completely different vibe completely than my old house. So it's so funny because now my husband is so used to me like doing a whirlwind decorating, like making everything perfect all the time and everything.

And he's just Vicki, when are you going to get some stuff on the walls? I kept saying, wait till the rest of the furniture comes. Now the rest of the furniture has come. And he still is so we're getting stuff out of storage, like all these old paintings and artwork and all these different things from different artists and stuff that we've had.

And I just told Brooke too, the other day, I'm like, I'm not sure this is a different vibe. Like some of this isn't going to work. Like I thought it was going to, and I want to wait and he's like, when are you going to get stuff up on the walls? I'm like, no, I have to wait. It's going to be empty until I think that it's the right piece.

So, we're out constantly thrifting. And when we get time to like wanting to go and I'm like, we gotta go, we gotta go, because I'm just like in this doing exactly what we're talking about doing is. Stepping back and then hopefully I can get stuff that I feel like is really perfect for the space without rushing it. So, I don't know.

Keri: I tell people all the time. I think it's the same thing with just like all the things that you say yes to on your calendar, right? If you just keep saying yes to everything, When that thing comes along like that Hey, somebody's Hey, let's go to Mexico next week. If you have said yes to everything else, and you haven't left room to say yes to those other things it's the same thing.

So, I love that. I think that's so good. Okay. So, speaking of when you have time as business owners, I am certain that it has got to be difficult to find time to tend to yourself and all of the things. So, what are you, what are y'all doing to make sure that you don't get lost in the shuffle?

Brooke: I think that's something that we've really had to learn to do. Like we definitely, right now we have an amazing staff who, really does a lot of the physical stuff. So, they're running the store, they're on the sales floor. They're packing our online orders and they're doing.

All of that sort of physical stuff, which is amazing. We're so

Vicky: They're like literally running the shop. Like it's their own. I, we tell them every day. They are incredible people, just incredible people. We just like a pitching ourselves like, how do we even end up with this?

And of course, they're all women who are Brooke's age and just freaking amazing. we're so blessed with that.  That helps that we've gotten down.

Brooke: Yeah, that helps a lot. But looking back, you know, in years past, it wasn't like that. And we were definitely doing that grind, which is great.

I'm so glad we did that. We, that's how it worked. We built the business from the ground up. You have to do that to appreciate not doing that, so yeah, I think that we're slowly being able to break away and just have. Some of our time back, which I think is really important for being able to run the business, how you want to run it too.

I found at the beginning of this year, just feeling burnout, but it wasn't burnout that I felt in the past where that burnout was like very physical burnout. At the beginning of this year, I was feeling more of that mental burnout. And I think it was just a culmination of the past 10 years using so much of my brain space thinking about.

The business and I re I realized I had been doing that for 10 years,  it just sort of catches up with you, but I think having the time to step back and give yourself a change of scenery  like getting outside or traveling or doing whatever, just to reignite some inspiration, some spark is important for keeping your business fresh and, and things like that.

So, we're definitely better at giving ourselves work life balance where before it wasn't so great.

Keri: And I've done a lot of interviews with a lot of really smart people and everything, most of the smart people say is there's no such thing as work life balance.  It doesn't really exist.

We all get so pressured with ourselves it's just a matter of when you see yourself going too far one direction, pulling yourself back a little bit and making sure that your health and wellness is taken care of as well.

 Okay I don't want to go any longer without talking about Vicki's art.

Because you heard Brooke say you gasp and you see it. I was even showing my husband last night. I was like, you're not going to believe who I'm interviewing. I was like, I have been obsessed with these prints forever. And I was like, it's so cool what you do, but I want to know take me back.

You started this with watercolors and that is not where you are today. 

Vick: Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, I've been painting and drawing my whole life. Like I can't remember a time where I wasn't doing that. And so, I just made the shift I don't know. Was it 10 years ago? It was like 9 years ago.

9 years ago. Yeah. Into just, I was playing around with foliage and I know that sounds so weird, like why would you be playing around with foliage? But anyway, yeah, like that one does. That, that's weird but anyway, so I really,  so like Brooke said, I was doing these watercolors and stuff and because I was working small in a studio and then I was working big in a small studio  on these big oil paintings and stuff.

So when we started the shop and I was, I said well, I can't do, it could take you a year to do a painting. I mean, Oil painting, a big one or whatever. And so, so anyway, so we went to these small watercolors and stuff like that. So it was just fun and. It flowed in it. And I love doing watercolor because  you can step back and let it dry or not with the paint. Oil painting, and you're constantly judging it and assessing it, like taking forever to analyze it. Is it good? Do I do the last stroke, whatever. But with watercolor, the way I do watercolor,  I've become like the follower of the paint.

I'm like, Oh, okay, perfect. Done. I didn't know I have a much better relationship with it like that. So, I needed to be in that space to do a lot of something, to get a body of work together to actually like. Put it out there.

When Brooke asked me, I was like, what are we going to sell? She's always encouraging me. She always thinks I could do all this stuff. So, she's no mom, you can totally do this. I'm like, okay. Okay. So anyway, but it always pushes me in such a good way.

 I started doing the watercolors and then I just had, I don't know. I had this sort of life changes happening. And I started messing around with foliage and I I don't know, I just got addicted to it. I didn't, I wasn't addicted to it right away. Like I was doing it, but I was still doing some of the watercolor.

And then I was having some health issues and stuff.  The health issues were making me really stay indoors and not move. It was quite the health issue.  I was forced to go outside and be in nature and gather foliage.

 Get outside of my head and not always constantly worrying about my physical body.  Then I guess the addiction started where I just was having so much fun, and just learning how to use a different art medium that, you know, when I was little, I would play with foliage and sticks and make little scenes and build little things and stuff when I was young.

And kind of a brought me back to playing like a kid, and I'm like, what can I do with this foliage? Like, how far can I push it? What? And I didn't have any interest in gluing anything down or making something permanent. I just wanted to, cause I get all that with the painting stuff, and It was just fun to make these pieces or build these pieces and then just go out and compost them again outside and then bring some different foliage back in and do something different. It was, like, just super fun and, well. 

Keri: It's almost like a, like a, an Etch-A-Sketch, right?

Vicki: Yeah, that's, I don't know if you've ever said that before, but exactly. It's the nature of the Etch-A-Sketch, yeah. That's so funny, 

Keri: Brooke, describe what it is that your mother does. 

Brooke: Sure. Yeah. So, she goes outside in her own garden, or she walks around her neighborhood, or she stops, carrying her groceries out from the grocery store and she sees a leaf and she stops to pick it up.

So, she's picking up pieces of foliage, so leaves, fallen petals, sticks, twigs, moss, tiny mushrooms, whatever it is that catches her eye. She's collecting all those things, and she brings that back into her studio, or before she had a studio, wherever, her dining room table, or her kitchen floor, whatever. And she's building these really detailed, intricate, scenes and portraits out of just Mother Nature.

So, she's not using any glue or tape to adhere anything. It's just all balancing, which a lot of people don't understand or get, or they don't like that, that it's not glued, nothing's adhered, so it can't be kept. And so once she has everything exactly how she wants it she takes a photo of it, and then she literally runs her hand over it and wipes it all away.

So, it's totally impermanent. And the only way that it's preserved is through a photograph or hundreds of photographs that she takes.

Vicki: I used to just use my cell phone and then Brooke's like, I think you should probably use a real camera. And then I would I had a real camera. And I would take it like just snapshot, like boom, like shaky, whatever is so funny.

And then Brooke's maybe you should get a tripod. I'm like, okay, tripod. And then I'm like, okay.

Brooke: It's just the evolution.

Vicki: Like I am just not a photographer. But it's important, but if I work so hard on something and then I feel oh, maybe this should be saved, it's worth taking the time to know enough to be able to do the photography because nobody else.

Brooke is a lot of times, not a lot of times, but sometimes in the studio with me and she can help capture something or if I have questions or whatever, but. I just I have to know enough to be able to take a good picture to preserve it.

Brooke: And now your setup is way more advanced than it was because like the, literally the only thing that's capturing this moment in time is this photograph.

Not photograph that file is what we use to create prints of her work and then, ship them all over the world. But she, everyone's Oh, your photography is amazing. And you've never identified as a photographer in any way, shape, or form. But just what she does has forced her to become also a photographer on the side, but yeah,.

Keri: Yeah I'm, I'm pretty sure if you take photos, you're a photographer, right?

Yeah. I think so. Because I'm the same way. I'm like, I'm not a writer. And they're like, do you write things down? You're a writer.

Keri: Oh my God, I love it. Oh, that like that.

Vicki: I take the pictures and then I send them to Brooke and, like Brooke's, I'll be just like, Brooke, there's dirt all over this.

I'm sure one of my hairs is stuck on a page. Seriously it's nothing's, it's just nature. So, things are coming off, bugs will be crawling around and then I'll be like, Brooke, you might need to clean this up a little bit. She, so I send stuff to her and then she makes it, I make it print, right? She makes it print ready.

Keri: And what you can't see from home. And I know y'all are all going to have to go out and check out their Instagram and their and their website, but the dimension of that she creates when she says she balances things. This is not like a flat piece of artwork.

This literally is built up and you would think that when you take a picture of that, that it would feel flat, but the dimension and the quality of the prints that y'all are making are like really beyond belief. There's it's crazy cool.

Vicki: Ah, thanks. People ask me all the time about that. It's not a trick. It's just a one focus thing, but you can't help it because if you've got a rose sitting on the table, that rose is like a couple inches tall,

Keri: Right!

Vicki: Then things are lower. So, you have to think like this depth of field is just the depth of field.

It's going to show up like that. There's no like trickery or I think people think that sometimes that.

Brooke: And there's just natural shadows that are exactly by, by, using things that are, have depth and everything. And she doesn't, you have an amazing camera, but the light setup isn't anything spectacular.

Like she uses natural light. She builds things by a window. It's really, that

Vicki: I'll use a white cardboard to reflect light back onto something if I feel like there's too much shadow and it's like I'm getting all my light from one side and the other side of the room is dark. I'll use like literally something from where do I get them? CVS. That's like the same board that I built stuff on. I just keep a couple extra white ones around and I'll hold it up. I don't even have the fancy, like round thing. People use to reflect light when they do. I don't even, i think I bought one of those ones and I just didn't like it.

So, I just use the whiteboard. It's just so basic. It's really basic, but she said, I do have a good camera. I have graduated to a good camera.

Keri: Yeah. It's amazing.

CULTIVATE U AD BREAK:
Friends, let me ask you a few questions, and I want you to answer them honestly.  Are you exhausted from years of watering everyone and everything else but you?  Does it feel like your gifts, dreams, and passions have been locked up tighter than a secret garden?  Do you struggle with things like anxiety, jealousy, busyness, or maybe fear.?

Would you like to see more joy, goodness, and growth in your life? Listen, if you've answered yes to any of these questions, I am thrilled to tell you that the fall session of Cultivate You has just been announced and it begins September 18th.  Now, what is Cultivate You? Cultivate You is a six week online journey where I'll walk beside you and teach you new ways to water your dreams, unearth your gifts.

and finally tend to your relationships needs and needs.  In this live group experience you will dig deep and discover a garden shed full of perennial tools that will help you to cultivate your best well-tended life for seasons to come.  Want to learn more? Check out the link in the show notes or head over to TheWellTendedLife.com

(Episode Resumes)

Keri: Talk to me for a second about the idea of creating something that is impermanent. And what has that done for you?

It almost feels like  it's almost, it's got to be freeing, right? That anything can be added or taken away at any moment. There is no there's usually so many expectations with art of what something's supposed to be. I'm telling you what I think that what's going from that to something that is true and maybe you even have no idea what you're creating, and it just becomes what it is.

What can it teach someone else if they tried it?

Vicki:Yeah, that's been kind of a journey too, because there's been a few things where I've worked like really hard on something or, so I've learned a lot in working with foliage and how, what I need to do a lot of times I'll be working with dried and live foliage.

And if I'm working on something and I'm using the dry foliage 1st, so that I can, because my studio is just me and I can lock the door and nobody's going in.  No windows are open. Don't have a ceiling fan. I can be pretty. Safe with the fact that if I close the door and the dry foliage is sitting there and a half of a face is being formed or whatever, I could leave it to the next day and come back and finish it and then pop in all the live stuff or whatever, but there's been times where I've come back and somebody's taking an eye out, like some bug is like flown in, taking an eye out, or I've done it while I've been working on something.

Where it's been really intricate and painstaking and then my sleeve will slide stuff all over. And you just don't get the eye looking like you did, right? It's just,  so there's been a lot of these little pain and suffering, moments where you just have to be,  you just have to be okay.

You just have to be okay with it, and I feel like  that's my personality anyway but. It's good. It's a good exercise to make something that you're really passionate about and you're, you've really put a lot of time and effort into it. And sometimes it just gets effed up like it's, and you have to just let go of your idea of what it was.

I've had an idea about something I wanted to build and then I'll tell Brooke, like even like maybe my idea and then I'll start it and she's where are you with it? I'm like, Oh, I chucked that that was not good. Whatever it is, like you just, and you've worked hard on it.

And you're like, I'm not even taking a picture of that. There's been times where I've done something and I felt so I'm in the middle of something and I'm building it in a certain way or gathering certain foliage and using it in it. And I'm thinking, God, I really don't like the way that looks.

So I take it all off and then I'll do something else. But I'm always taking pictures during the steps with my phone. And then I'll go back the next day and go, damn, why did I do that? Because it looks so much better with what I had before. Okay. These are all things that I feel like now that I've been doing this for so long that  I'm doing now, but in the beginning, I didn't do it.

And that's what I really liked about it was when I was telling you earlier about how you can take all this time with a painting and assess it and your ego is all there and stuff like that. And the reason I really enjoyed this kind of art was because I didn't have time to do that. Like you're working really fast against it.

Beat the clock with mother nature, everything's wilting and that is the truth. But now that I'm building even more intricate things and I'm adding some dry foliage and all this kind of stuff where I can have a little bit more time, I do feel like sometimes my ego is there again, like assessing or whatever, it is good that I just have to dump it all and then start fresh.

If we like it and we want to make a print of it, great. But there's been a lot of stuff that we haven't made prints of cause I'm just like, it's just an exercise. It just keeps you. It just makes you a better artist. Just constantly exercising your skills with whatever medium you're using.

Keri: Awesome. And you guys, you just recently launched a book, with all of your art in it.

Vicki: Yeah, that was like, what a year ago. That was in September. Was it 2 years ago? 2 September 2 September. Yeah, but it feels like forever. But you're right. It wasn't that we go.

And yeah, so that was like.  Super cool and unexpected because it's something that Brooke or my husband would bring up just once in a while Oh, we should do a book or wouldn't it be cool to do a book. And I'm always thinking in my head, oh, there's no way I'm going to do that. Cause it would have to be self-published and I really don't want to do that.

I would think about it for half a second and then literally maybe twice a year or something and then I just never thought about it. But then it was cool that this editor had been following us and really enjoying the work. And she, she had emailed us and said, I really think that you should have a book.

And so, I was like, whoa, okay.  And then of course, all the stars have to align and you, it has to be a good fit between you and the editor at all. And it happened to be, and we were working with this whole female team that was amazing. And it was just such a great learning experience. And of course it was just nice to have some bodies that, bodies of work in one space.

And because I have done quite a lot of work. I think it's just cool.

Brooke: Yeah, it's a perfect so it's a beautiful coffee table book. Cause it's obviously just full of, large page size works of art. And I think there's like over a hundred pieces in the book. And then yeah.

And then just short stories about something funny that happened while she was like creating that piece or sort of the inspiration behind certain, a certain piece or what she used in this piece and there's process shots and. And then there's the whole, like she, she touched on the fact that she was having health issues that sort of cannonballed her into creating a foliage and that whole story is in the book too, which is, I think people really appreciate.

And, and, yeah, I, we've, people read it to their kids, go through the book with their kids. People find people of all different ages find, inspiration in the book. And I love it because I'll be able to have it forever. It's just, yeah, a great sort of, thing to, to have of your mom's work.

If just for that reason, I think, having a book is really special.

Vicki: So, I think it's fun that people can, people tell me all the time, how they look through and they just keep it on their coffee table. And then every time they look through it, they find all this different new stuff, which I get, because there's a lot of small little, tiny details that you're not catching up, and so they're having fun with that. And I didn't think that sharing my, when I went to start writing the book, I was all about not sharing my health journey and the reason I started full-fledged art with, because I thought, no, this is supposed to be like a super happy book. This is about flowers.

Come on, we have to be happy, and so then I realized that I could not write the book without sharing that because it really was, it did catapult me into. Doing the foliage art and sticking with it. So it was a big part of the story. And in the end that has really helped and been therapeutic to a lot of people.

So, all these things you're not thinking about, and everything always turns out the way it's supposed to. Some. 

Keri: Oh, 100%. I love I'm so thankful and I'm not, we're not going to talk about it because I want people to get the book, and I want them to read about your health journey. But so many times when you're standing in the middle of that storm, you think, how could anything good come out of that and, nine times out of 10, that storm is just it's like just wiping away the stuff that was getting in your way of your true calling, I think.

And there's always little bits of goodness to find on the other side. If we're, if our eyes are open enough to see it and clearly your creative eye was all about, okay, if I can't do this, then I can do that. And I talked about that a lot. Like when your season shifts there are things that you're not going to be able to do, right?

And a season shift can happen because of a health issue or you move or a different job, whatever it happens to be. You can focus on what you can't do. Or you can focus on, okay if I can't do that, what can I do? And the fact that you focused on that and your art and what you all are bringing through Sister Golden is bringing joy to others is so important is just, it's such a gift and I'm super thankful that you leaned into that and both of you are leaning into that and bringing good vibes to the house and the home and the walls. I'm sitting here in my office and I'm staring at a, in an empty wall and I'm like, oh, I'm just, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna have to get me a friend.

So good. Oh my gosh, girls. This has been so much fun.

We're going to move on to the end of the interview where I just asked all of my guests the same questions. And so, it doesn't need to be long answers, but I'm always curious. Tell me what regular practices each of you have that help you to live out your best well -tended life.

Vicki: For me, it's easy. It's meditation. I feel like for me, meditation is like my always exercise had always been my like glue, to hold me together. And it always made me a better mom. And just really, at least that's what I told you. No, you're going into the nursery because- no but no, like seriously, that was always my glue.

And, I can't do what I used to do. So I feel like meditation has really just been this journey that I've been on. That is just brought me so much and  keeps me centered and present. And so that for me, for sure. 

Brooke: Absolutely.  Yeah. I think probably being able to live like around my family I think it's really cool to be able to live literally now down the street from my parents.

I think just being able to spend time regularly with them is really special. 

 Keri: love it.

WELL-TENDED LIFE JOURNAL AD BREAK:
 And now it's time for my favorite part of the interview, because it's inspired by my life tending journal practice. But let me be clear, this is not your grandma's journal. It's more of a growth chart, reflection diary, planting reminder, observation deck, and research notebook all rolled into one.  And when used daily, this journal practice is a life guarding game changer,  guaranteed to produce.

Big, beautiful, purpose filled blooms in any season. Now it's by far the most important tool in my own personal life gardening shed and I want to gift you a free journaling template today. So check out the link in the show notes or head over to TheWellTendedLife.com and download it and get started today.

(Episode Resumes)

Keri: So, the next part of the interview it's based actually off of my journal process. I'm a journal girl. I do a thing every single day where I read, reflect, I weed, seed, and water, and this is based off of the reflect part of my journal process.

Journal practice where I look back every day and I spot the joy, goodness, and growth. Because whether we're looking for it or not, it's always there. There's always joy, goodness, and growth in every single day. So I like to ask my guests where they are spotting those things. So, tell me, where are you spotting joy in your life right now?

Like what's bringing you joy? 

Brooke: I think one thing for me is I mentioned that my husband opened his own small business in town here. So, it's a bakery and it's a brewery, also just a really beautiful, inviting space.  Just being able to go there and meet these guys like for coffee in the morning.

That brings me a lot of joy too. Yeah, just spending time there in a very welcoming, cozy space and seeing, when you live in a small town, you see a lot of familiar faces like all the time. So, seeing those familiar faces and just like enjoying a slow morning there is definitely something that's bringing me joy right now.

Vicki: Yeah, actually, that could be part of my answer to, I just feel like that, like just the community that we have around us. Like we were talking about the girls that work for us. I feel like just from going to his business the name of it is Sway. And just going to Sway in the morning and having this, like such a great, like with you and dad, and just we have this just such a great community where you start your Day feeling just so whole and grateful and everything.

And then we go over to Fish Creek, 10 minutes away to the shop. And then we have this, like these incredible people that we work with. And then our customers are so fricking amazing. So, Craig calls it like I get home every day and Craig goes, so was it a love fest? So, we call it the love fest. Like seriously, it's a fricking love fest here.

I know it sounds, but it is true, like we just have these, we were able to have these really great connections, and I don't know,

Keri: I love it. I also love your joys. Are about people. But that also, that's the apple doesn't fall far from the tree also. That connection to people clearly was, has been rooted in her a long time as well.

But, okay. So. the next one is goodness. So, goodness is like something you would write in like your gratitude journal, right? So, it's a little bit one step deeper. So,  what are you feeling grateful for? 

Brooke: I think it's definitely the help that we have in running the business.

And it's been like this for 10 years from the ground up. Like it's not just us, like sure. We're the face, but it's so many more helping hands behind the scenes  that are equally important in making the ship run.  The girls who work for us. Our partners helping out, my dad's like the financial guy behind the business it's so core family oriented.

So just like all of those helping hands that treat the business like it's their own.

Vicki: And I am grateful for that daily, for sure. I can say the exact same thing. Yeah, for sure. And I think just. Health and wellness having your health, of course although it's not perfect all the time just that.

 I just feel like I don't have to go far to find that goodness. Literally it's just like taking a deep breath and sitting and just being present. I know that sounds Ooh,  but it's true.

I just feel goodness from just. Being alive and just being like here. And it sounds all like whatever, but it is really true. I'm so grateful just to be in the moment,

Keri: I love that. And for me, that's really the purpose of doing this part of my practice and teaching that to others is that is exactly what you just said is I, you don't have to go too far to find the goodness.

It's right there in front of us. If we're just, if we just have our eyes open to it. Okay. So the last 1 is always hard. It's. Growth, like where are you spotting growth? Cause growth happens in these tiny little like micro shoots. This, you have built a business, you know what that looks like, but it could be like life lessons that you're learning in your own life.

It doesn't necessarily need to be business related, but where are you seeing growth in your own lives?

 Brooke: I think maybe from that sort of like mental burnout beginning of the year, I feel like.  Years past, maybe I would have just trudged right through that and not taking a step back to realize what it was saying.  From that sort of reflecting on that sort of made me reflect on, just like what you want the future of your business to be and how you want it to align with.

Your life, how much time do you give your business versus how much time do you take for your personal life? I think I saw growth in myself being able to reflect on that and look forward and it's still like being figured out, I think, but just, pinpointing that I was feeling that way.

And then reflecting on that.

Vicki: I think for me, it's been like a different thing just because of my age difference and stuff. And I just feel like we've made this big move. Really moved our cheese moved away from a house that we never thought in a million years we would ever like, give up.

We built it. It was in just like this, paradise place and the whole bit and we just made this decision to move our cheese and really do something different, which still feels strange  like I'm still moving into it and stuff so it's been like doing physical things like that, moving and having less things and Just being able to make changes like a big girl.

I'm 64, but  you'd be like, I can do this. Okay. I can do this. I don't know if I could have done that 10 years ago. I would have been like, hell no, I'm not doing that.  But it's just interesting to watch yourself shift. Like you would say into a new season right.

In doing something that just makes things more flexible, more freeing. Yeah.  That kind of thing. So I feel like for me, it's that right now. Yeah.


Keri: Oh my gosh. Y'all, this has been so fun. Thank you for being so honest and open and sharing and all the things. I can't wait for people to listen to this.

Will you tell people like how they find you, follow you, shop with you, buy your book, all the things. 

Brooke: Yeah. So, our website is SisterGolden.com and then it's that's where you can buy. My mom's prints and then her book is available on the website, but also on Amazon and Target. com and I think a few other, big retailers where you can buy books online.

And then our Instagram is @SisterGoldenShop and that's really the fun place to hang out. Cause you can watch all of the reels that we post and it's more behind the scenes on how my mom creates and her process and fun things like that. Yeah. Fair warning, you will be obsessed. Thank you so much. 

Keri: Oh my gosh. Thank you so much for everyone who has been listening to the podcast today. I sincerely hope that this episode has inspired you today to find a way to bring happiness and joy into your home and into your life in order for you to live out your best well-tended life.

So ,until next time, y'all blessings and blooms.  Thank you, Brooke and Vicki. Thank you so much.

(Outro)
 Oh, my goodness, y'all. That was so good.  Don't forget to check the show notes for my favorite heart tap moments from this episode.  What is a heart tap? Well, whenever I read, listen to a podcast or watch a speaker, I'm always on the lookout for those like head bob, heart tap and aha moments. You know what I'm talking about.

These are the things that cause your head to bob in agreement, your heart to make that tap when a much needed word of wisdom comes along, or your soul to scream, Aha!  That was the word I was looking for. So, for each episode, I like to share a few of my heart taps. In the show notes with you, but I'm curious, what are your heart tap moments from today's episode? 

Run on over and direct message me your favorite moments, questions, heart taps, and more over at Instagram or Facebook today.  And if you were inspired by this episode or maybe learned something new, make sure to share the show with a friend or post about it in your stories.  Finally, could you do one more favor for me today?

Will you take a minute and hop on over to Apple podcast and leave a kind and thoughtful review for the Well Tended Life podcast?  You see, this is how people find us. And every positive review helps to unlock the door for someone else to get in on the magic of life to do too.  Thank you again for listening and being a part of this Well Tended Life community. 

And until next time, y'all blessings and bloom. Transcription by ESO. Translation by